It seems as though all free download games are introduced to me by my friends...
Months ago - sometime before summer - my friend Clint dragged me to a game's website. The game was simply known as League of Legends, and he made a million promises about it: that it was an RPG, an MMO, and a TD game, all rolled up into one, and was free to play, too. I brushed his claims off as outrageous, but decided to check it out anyway. I browsed the site for quite a while, finding a couple of rather interesting videos that presented me an epic game where teams of different characters met on a dark battlefield and duked it out using magic, armaments, and brute force. This finally persuaded me to click the download link and play. After I had it up and running, I was presented with an impressively easy-to-understand tutorial, pleasing graphics and dove right in to the streamlined PvP realm, which makes up the main portion of gameplay.
I was rather impressed from the get-go: on a half-decent gaming rig, League of Legends looked...well...great! Even the sign-in page was captivating: a desolate battlefield with a powerful-looking wizard conjuring wisps of blue energy from his hands, and an assassin, poised to strike with blades glowing a menacing green. This took me off guard, as many free-to-play/download games' graphics leave players rather wanting. Even as I began to play the game, the interface and arena of play looked wonderful. Character detail was varied, the color palette was interesting, and the whole of the 3D area didn't have a polygonal feel. It always leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart when I know that the developers of such a game actually put time and effort into graphical appeal. :D
I figured that before I actually got into the game, I should learn a little bit of its lore and basic strategies, as when Clint was discussing it, he threw so much jargon into every sentence that I was absolutely lost.
The lore behind this game is based around a utopian society where different city-states have come to dominate the political sphere of a fictional world. Rather than wasting time and resources drawing out wars, the city-states instead agreed to form a central combat arena, where they would send their champions to do battle and decide the fate of the realm. You, the Summoner, are an agent of the city-states and control/direct these champions in their battles, connected to them by the Nexus, which sits in the heart of your base. Your objective is to level up your champion, break through the enemy's tower- and champion-based defenses, and destroy their Nexus, thereby winning the match for your team. Of course, this is no small feat, as you have five enemy champions against your team as well, along with the hordes of minions sent as cannon fodder out onto the battlefield from both sides.
After this most basic of research, I found myself thrown into an incredibly intricate arena of play. It would take me an entire blog post to explain its nuances (foreshadowing!), so I'll just go over the basics: in general PvP, two five-person teams, composed of different characters, each with unique skills, are thrown into the arena and attempt to destroy one another's defenses, and eventually their respawn center, the Nexus.
League of Legends insanely fun and disturbingly addicting once you get into it. The graphics are pleasing to the eye, and gameplay is satisfyingly complicated. It's definitely worthy to hold its place as October 2011's Free Download of the Month.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember - don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
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